Go to the ant, you sluggard;(A)
    consider its ways and be wise!
It has no commander,
    no overseer or ruler,
yet it stores its provisions in summer(B)
    and gathers its food at harvest.(C)

How long will you lie there, you sluggard?(D)
    When will you get up from your sleep?
10 A little sleep, a little slumber,
    a little folding of the hands to rest(E)
11 and poverty(F) will come on you like a thief
    and scarcity like an armed man.

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(A)Go to (B)the ant, O (C)sluggard;
    consider her ways, and (D)be wise.
(E)Without having any chief,
    (F)officer, or ruler,
she prepares her bread (G)in summer
    and (H)gathers her food in harvest.
(I)How long will you lie there, (J)O sluggard?
    When will you arise from your sleep?
10 (K)A little sleep, a little slumber,
    (L)a little (M)folding of the hands to rest,
11 (N)and poverty will come upon you like a robber,
    and want like an armed man.

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Lazy hands make for poverty,(A)
    but diligent hands bring wealth.(B)

He who gathers crops in summer is a prudent son,
    but he who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son.(C)

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A slack hand (A)causes poverty,
    (B)but the hand of the diligent makes rich.
He who (C)gathers in summer is a prudent son,
    but he who sleeps in harvest is (D)a son who brings shame.

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26 As vinegar to the teeth and smoke(A) to the eyes,
    so are sluggards to those who send them.(B)

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26 Like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes,
    so is the sluggard to those who send him.

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11 Those who work their land will have abundant food,
    but those who chase fantasies have no sense.(A)

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11 (A)Whoever works his land (B)will have plenty of bread,
    (C)but he who follows (D)worthless pursuits lacks sense.

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24 Diligent hands will rule,
    but laziness ends in forced labor.(A)

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24 (A)The hand of the diligent will rule,
    while the slothful will be (B)put to forced labor.

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27 The lazy do not roast[a] any game,
    but the diligent feed on the riches of the hunt.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 12:27 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.

27 (A)Whoever is slothful will not roast his game,
    but the diligent man will get precious wealth.[a]

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 12:27 Or but diligence is precious wealth

A sluggard’s appetite is never filled,(A)
    but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied.

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(A)The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing,
    while the soul of the diligent (B)is richly supplied.

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Where there are no oxen, the manger is empty,
    but from the strength of an ox(A) come abundant harvests.

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Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean,
    but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox.

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23 All hard work brings a profit,
    but mere talk leads only to poverty.

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23 In all toil there is profit,
    but mere talk (A)tends only to poverty.

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19 The way of the sluggard is blocked with thorns,(A)
    but the path of the upright is a highway.

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19 The way of (A)a sluggard is like a hedge of (B)thorns,
    but the path of the upright is (C)a level highway.

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26 The appetite of laborers works for them;
    their hunger drives them on.

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26 A worker's appetite works for him;
    his (A)mouth urges him on.

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One who is slack in his work
    is brother to one who destroys.(A)

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Whoever is slack in his work
    is a (A)brother to him who destroys.

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